AESI PRESIDENT 2026
MESSAGE FOR PEACE
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JEEUSALEM “I arrived in Jerusalem in September 2003, and more than twenty years have now passed since that first trip of mine so exciting and so full of promise for promoting university cooperation for peace.
The Italian Consul General in Jerusalem was waiting for us, and together with him we first visited the University of Bethlehem, which was still under curfew due to the crisis situation at the time. We passed through the checkpoint in two diplomatic car : the first belonged to the Consul General, and the second to the European Union Ambassador, in which I was also traveling.
As we passed through the checkpoint, we saw the first signs of the separation between Jerusalem and Bethlehem: a high reinforced concrete wall and watchtowers at the entrance to the wall. I was very surprised because walls divide, whereas what is needed is trust, dialogue, and cooperation. Even if there are security concerns, rejecting the other side, refusing to engage in dialogue, and failing to understand the true reasons behind each side’s distress and instead trying to resolve them through diplomacy, only serves to further aggravate the situation.
We arrived at the University of Bethlehem, where the university president, the rector, and the Apostolic Nuncio Pietro Sambi at the time, who would later become the Apostolic Nuncio to the United States in Washington, waiting for us.
I was very excited because the meeting would mark the first step in a major university cooperation initiative between the presidents of Israeli and Palestinian universities aimed at promoting dialogue, peace, and mutual understanding, with a focus on supporting the younger generations, who at that time were facing great difficulties after many long years of tension and war.
We received a very warm welcome, and after the meeting, they treated us to lunch at the university restaurant. We visited the Church of the Nativity, where our Lord Jesus was born, with great reverence and prayers for peace. A few months earlier, a very dramatic incident had taken place in which some Palestinians had taken refuge there during a firefight with the Israeli army. Everything turned out well.
So, too, did our visit to Bethlehem, and we returned to Jerusalem. The following day, we also visited the Hebrew University, located near the Mount of Olives, and were welcomed with great attention by the rector and other university professors.
Through these meetings, facilitated by our diplomatic efforts—both by the Consul General and by the Italian Ambassador to the State of Israel—we were able to promote a joint master’s program for Israeli and Palestinian students, which was inaugurated in 2005 in the Notre Dame auditorium dedicated to John Paul II. Attending this event were the rectors of the Hebrew University and the University of the Holy Land, our ambassadors and the Consul General, as well as the head of the United Nations Office in Jerusalem. It was truly moving to see 20 Israeli students and 20 Palestinian students together in the main auditorium, commemorating John Paul II, the great saint who visited Jerusalem and promoted peace throughout the world.
Following this university initiative, the Israeli-Palestinian master’s program sponsored by UNESCO, many other initiatives and programs followed, which eventually led, with the 2015 Jubilee, to the creation of the Room International Seminar for Peace. The occasion was the World Conference of University Rectors held in conjunction with the Jubilee proclaimed by Pope Francis. Since then, eight editions of the Rome International Seminar have been held, attended by numerous delegations from across the Middle East—including Israel, Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and Cyprus—as well as from the Balkans and Eastern Europe, such as Sarajevo, Belgrade, Zagreb, Podgorica, and, last but not least, Kyiv in Ukraine.
It is now October 2026. The recent dramatic years of conflict, terrorist attacks, bombings, and regional upheavals throughout the Middle East are now behind us, and the European Association of International Studies has called for, and continues to call for, a diplomacy based on dialogue, understanding, and mutual solidarity.
We cannot continue to suppress human rights and violate territorial integrity; we cannot continue to persecute and isolate entire populations. Both sides must find the best ways to engage in a fruitful dialogue that can restore Jerusalem to its place at the center of the world as a city of peace.
Jerusalem italian consul letter 2026
Letter of appreciation and gratitude for 2026
